Expert Panel

Mr. Andreev received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Theoretical Physics of Moscow Steel and Alloys Institute led by Alexei A. Abrikosov (recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2003), where he was a recipient of the Scholorship for Outstanding Young Scientists of Russian Academia of Sciences, the Scholarship from the International Center of Fundamental Physics and Soros Scientific Foundation. Mr. Andreev also received a B.S. with honors in Engineering/Material Sciences from Moscow Steel and Alloys Institute and with an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a director of the American Business Association of Russian Professionals.

Nathan Bach, Ph.D., is currently a marketing manager at Dionex Corporation, a manufacturer of chromatography equipment.Nathan devoted many years to business development and marketing working with small and large biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He successfully represented in the US off-shore companies looking for development of American market and helped local start-ups to expand in global markets. Nathan provides his clients with market analysis, helps them with formulating business strategy and vision, focusing on building value. He orchestrates co-development and licensing activities, helping to capitalize on companies’ technology. His experience includes drug development, genomics, proteomics, and chromatography equipment.

Nathan holds M.Sc. in Biochemistry from the Moscow State University in Russia and Ph.D. in Immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He authored 20 papers in peer-reviewed scientific magazines and one patent.

Sergei Burkov, Ph.D. was the first head of Google’s engineering center in Moscow, Russia. Before joining Google he co-founded and led three startup companies. Dulance was the Long Tail shopping search engine (acquired by Google). Bilbo Innovations, Inc. invented and brought to market STEP ON IT! computer pedals. Invincible Data Systems pioneered transparent disk and e-mail encryption (acquired by VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI)).
Dr. Burkov is a former research physicist who held appointments at top American universities, including Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Burkov received Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics and M.S. in physics with Honors, from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Anna is a Founder and CEO of Entana Corp., an entrepreneurship and venture advisory firm that focuses on providing business strategy, planning, fundraising, and positioning services to the early-stage technology start-ups. It also provides a part-time executive management and angel financing.

Anna is also a Co-Founder of Kovalsky Art Gallery, a contemporary art boutique that gives art lovers around the world unique access to some of the most famous Russian artists. The gallery specializes in art from the mid 20th century onwards with an emphasis on post-impressionism, avant-garde, primitivism, expressionism, and abstract art.

Previously, Anna was a Co-Founder and the VP of Business Development at BKP Security, a government IT security company. Prior to that, she was a Foreign Advisor at the international law firm, Coudert Brothers. Before moving into private business, Anna held academic research positions at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (Stanford University) and the Moscow office of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies (Harvard University).

Anna has her J.D. from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and her Master of Laws degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. Anna is an active member of the Board of Directors of American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR). She was 2005 AmBAR President and Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the first Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD-2005) Technology Investment Conference.

Stas Khirman has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry as an architect, manager, visionary and inventor. Stas co-found Skyrider - revolutionary company developing technologies to organize and monetize peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Prior to founding Skyrider, Khirman founded Narus, a global leader in software and technology for the telecom industry and government agencies, where he designed the world’s most scalable network transaction analysis system. Khirman had previously served as the networking group leader at VDOnet, a pioneer in internet video. Khirman was behind the development of a number of standards organizations and participated in the early definition of the VoIP H.323 protocol. Khirman holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Kiev.

Olga Potapova, PhD
Founder, CEO and Scientific Director, Cureline, Inc.

Olga is an expert in drug R&D and leading edge biotechnology. Prior to founding Cureline, Inc (www.cureline.com) and Cureline Clinical Consulting Partners (www.CCCPtrials.com) in 2003, she worked in Cancer Research including positions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Pfizer /SUGEN. Her research experience includes development of molecular diagnostics and translational medicine. At Cureline, Olga manages major international collaborations for pharmaceutical and biotech clients with clinical and research centers worldwide. She received an M.S. in Physics from the Leningrad Polytechnic University and Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics/Biochemistry from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

Konstantin Vodopyanov
Research Professor, Stanford University

Konstantin Vodopyanov obtained his MS in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Phys-Tech) and completed his PhD and DSc (Habilitation) at Moscow Lebedev Physical Institute. He was assistant professor at Moscow Phys-Tech (1985-90), Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellow at Bayreuth University, Germany, Royal Society Fellow and lecturer at Imperial College of London, UK (1990-98). In 1998, he moved to the United States to become head of the Laser group at Inrad, Inc., NJ and later director of mid-IR systems at Picarro, Inc.,CA. In 2003, he returned to academia to do research and teaching at Ginzton Lab, Stanford University. Dr. Vodopyanov is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, Fellow of the UK Institute of Physics, and a Senior Member of IEEE. He is author of 280 technical publications, 12 patents, one book and 8 book chapters. He serves on program committees for major laser conferences and will be a General Chair of CLEO' 2010, the world's biggest and most prestigious laser conference, and an organizer of the "Laser Fest" event in 2010 to commemorate fifty years of the invention of the laser. Dr. Vodopyanov's research interests include efficient mid-IR and terahertz-wave generation using micro-and nano-structured materials, mid-IR frequency combs for spectroscopy, detection and imaging, and nano-IR spectroscopy.